Subaru, Center for Pet Safety Team Up to Standardize Car Restraints

According to the Center, there are currently no standards for pet safety restraints sold in the U.S. market. The non-profit organization developed a crash-test regimen based on Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and other scientific resources, in order to see how repurposed child-seat tests would function in real-world situations for pets. In this particular case, a 55-pound crash-test dummy “dog” was used in the tests.

The results were disheartening. None of the commercially available pet safety restraints protected the dummy. In fact, the Center says such restraints would not only injure a real animal but the human passengers as well.

Subaru will help fund the testing of such restraints. States Lindsey Wolko, founder and CEO for the Center for Pet Safety, “We are thrilled to have the support of Subaru as its love for pets is as deep as ours. We have received requests from all over the world from manufacturers who want guidance on developing a safer harness and, through this partnership, we can finally conduct additional testing to help develop a suitable standard, provide the needed knowledge-base to manufacturers, as well as determine the top performers.”